Spice Thai, 24 Holyoke Street, Cambridge: DON'T. EAT. HERE.

warning, friends: this is going to get graphic.

as a veteran of the food service industry, it takes a lot for me to discourage anyone from going to any eatery. shit happens: people have bad days and forget to put order slips into the kitchen, fridges break in the middle of the night spoiling produce and dairy, restaurants become short-staffed and frenzied if someone calls in sick with the flu. restaurants, cafes, bars and coffeehouses are especially susceptible to falling apart at the seams over a minute thing, but there are some standards that need to be set and observed, obviously, and serving ROTTING FOOD to customers? definitely not something you do, regardless of how crazy things get in a kitchen or how stressed you are. so, spice thai of cambridge? i'm officially you calling you out as a disgusting restaurant unfit for serving people.

last saturday, we ordered takeout from spice thai outside of central square while we were in the midst of a TPB production meeting. i was the only one out of the four of us who got anything different: gab, milap and jessie all had pad thai, while i went with tom kha gai (coconut chili soup with chicken) and the "special pad thai" (pad thai with wide egg noodles instead of normal ones.) we ate, we finished the meeting, i went home, blah blah blah.

fast forward to noon the next day: i felt DISGUSTING. i felt bloated, feverish, hung over and gross, and i hadn't been boozing the night before so it made absolutely no sense that i felt this way. i couldn't shake the feeling all day, and on monday i was literally doubled over in my cubicle at work feeling like an alien was going to explode out of my insides sigourney weaver style.

long story short: i spent every single day last week feeling like something was very, very wrong. i was told by my doctor that food poisoning, though violent, unpleasant and instantaneous, should only last up to MAX 48 hours and that me having these symptoms for over 5 days was a major red flag. after two trips to my doctor, a day home sick from work and a solid week of eating nothing but saltines and bananas, i just wanted answers. my friends insisted i go to the hospital, my family insisted i bail on the planned trip to maine we had set for that weekeend, and i was getting delirious and exhausted from oh, NOT EATING. i gave the doc a sample (the least pleasant kind you can think of, blaghhhh) and they did the lab work.

my doctor called me yesterday with the results. the verdict? there were "extremely dangerous levels" of campylobacter in my system, which is the bacteria that causes nasty food poisoning and comes from eating rotten chicken or coming into contact with feces. ROTTEN. CHICKEN. OR SHIT!?

spice thai in cambridge: having one of your customers keeling and puking and doing god knows what else and being unable to eat or function or even keep down fluids for over 5 DAYS is UNBELIEVABLE. is it that difficult to keep track of the groceries you prepare? is it that difficult to mark the soups you serve, the chicken you keep and the stock you use? is it that difficult to make your employees wash their hands, clean the utensils they prepare food with and make sure that they, oh, i don't know, adhere to regulations set for them by the department of health in order to ensure the wellbeing of their customers and employees? this problem is so easily avoidable and it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the "restaurants get crazy" clause i mentioned above. my sickness was caused by ignorance, laziness and neglect, not stress, an inadequate number of people on duty or demanding customers.

and oh, it gets better! i called spice thai yesterday to tell them hey, i was sick because of food they prepared, maybe they should check out the chicken/potential transferral of poop problem in their kitchen. the woman on the phone hung up on me the first time, and when i called back to speak to a manager she told me that he wouldn't be in until friday. um, i called on a tuesday. i mentioned to her on the phone that i was filing a complaint because i had contracted severe food poisoning from their cuisine and that it needed to be resolved right away. she insisted i call back on friday.

the verdict: if you value your stomach, your small intestine, your colon, and your sanity, do not under any circumstances order takeout or frequent spice thai restaurant at 24 holyoke street in cambridge, massachusetts. i don't know about you, but i'd feel more comfortable checking out one of the other amazing culinary establishments in the area as opposed to going to a restaurant that serves tainted food and refuses to deal with an urgent problem having to do with their neglect to consider the safety of their patrons. spice thai in cambridge? you suck. and your pad thai is mediocre at best.

if you're looking for GOOD, NON-POISONING THAI FOOD: check out pho n' rice, sugar and spice and spice and rice, all within a stones throw of central, harvard and porter squares. they've all been delicious and affordable in the past and i'd gladly send more traffic their way then to spice thai.

hil on 3buckBites, this time with pizza!

hey friends.  check out my weekly bit over at 3 Buck Bites for some cheap, deliciously tempting morsels.  this week: the best and undoubtedly cheapest pizza in the city, haymarket pizza.

each one of these massive, topping-heavy slices? $1.75.  we go way back, haymarket and me.

click here for the full blurb.  who's going to bodega girls at middlesex tonight?  it's free, it's at 9pm and it's the best hedonistic dance party you could ever hope to attend.  i'm assuming you want in on that, kiddos.

hil on 3buckBites!

hey! guys! i'm a contributor over at 3 buck bites, a site which all of you who love to eat and love to do so cheaply should go check out.  my first blurb just got posted and it's on the "dollar" burger over at bukowski, and if you guys have been reading this blog/have been hanging out with me on the regular you know that bukowski is kind of my local haunt.

here's my blurb on the burger and here's the burger itself in all its glory.

enjoy!

(ps: i know i've been slacking horribly in the blogging department, i'm sorryyy! expect a very, very heavy music post in the near future detailling our exploits at recent shows for the sounds, thao with the get down stay down, and potentially holy fuck.)

the happy list, "i f*cking love my life" edition.

1) i have a scorching sunburn and look like quite a lobster, but i spent hours lounging on harvard yard lunching on delicious food with a group of my absolute favorite people.  avocado bruschetta, mango salsa, red cabbage and raisin cole slaw, pavlovas, brie, sparkling cider and more tortilla chips than we knew what to do with? so. so. so. goooood.

2) i spent the majority of my weekend playing outside with my friends, be it romping around davis square on a tequila buzz or getting blisters on my hands from the monkey bars at the playground up the street.  this weekend felt like SUMMER.

3) i cannot stop listening to the shout out louds and the love language.  the love language are getting a post of their own because jessie took some amazing, amazing photographs at their show the other night, but in the meantime, i will blast their "lalita" along with the SOL's "very loud" on repeat and dance around my apartment while i clean up the remnants of weekend debauchery.

4) i found my sunglasses, my camera and my missing favorite earring.  scoooore.

5) my thao tickets came in the mail, along with the latest issue of paste magazine! so excited. i've been meaning to pick up paste for awhile.  this is going to be a pretty heavy week on the ear drums: i'm going to go to tt's tomorrow night for the sounds' show with jessie, the bodega girls are playing harper's ferry on friday, and i'm hopefully going to be writing some new reviews/features for chicks with guns in the near future.  

6) the city is in such an incredible mood.  the sox have trounced the yankees SO FAR in their three game series, but it's only the start of the seventh inning of the third game and i don't want to jinx it.  i love watching baseball on my couch.  my daddy would be so proud.  haha.

7) it's nice to finally recognize myself in the mirror again.  i was heartbroken in january, furious in february, bewildered in march and hopeful in april, and now i finally, FINALLY feel rested and refreshed and able to take control of my life again.  i wake up every day EXCITED, man.  i'm optimistic and  i'm no longer wasting time on wishful thinking and coulda-shoulda-wouldas.  i've tried to right my wrongs and it may be too late to salvage friendships and feelings and all that from previous offenses, but i would like to think that the universe'll get me back for that one.  it's cathartic, admitting you're wrong, and i swallowed my pride and apologized in the only way i could.  i don't know what to expect, but for the first time in four months i'm not dwelling on it and worrying about it.  what's done is done, you know?  my hurt and my heartbreak are no longer controlling my outlook and my feelings and that's something to be ecstatic about.  i feel like me again.  it took a little longer than i liked for me to get back here, but that's worth noting all the same.

it's DINNAH PAHTEE TIIIIMEZ!

photo courtesy of serious eats.

with roughly eight gazillion gallons of water hitting the streets of boston in the form of relentless rain showers today, i opted to spend the day inside.  after running the dishwasher, sending out a few resumes and catching up on a couple of emails, i sat down to read through a few of my favorite blogs.  serious eats, the kitchn, we are not martha and apartment therapy are all bookmarked on my browser, and all of these lifestyle/cooking blogs have been tempting me with gorgeous place settings, inspiring, innovative recipes and photos of desserts that make my teeth hurt just by lookin' at 'em.  the conclusion i came to after hour 4 of my bout of webpage perusals this afternoon? it's damn near high time for a dinner party.

my logic: each and every single sunday night is spent dancing at precinct to the harmonious sounds of the sea monsters.  the boys don't hit the stage until 10pm, making it the perfect event to attend after a massive culinary spread at home with friends.  i also happen to be friends with several people well-versed in the ways of the restaurant/food service industry: there's a sous chef or two in my social circle, several bakers, and i'm a former bartender/waitress/barista myself, so it seems like putting together a mouthwatering menu based on my latest blog findings and the tastes of my friends in the know would be mindless.  we all seem to be big on hearty dishes with the perfect liquid pairing (read: booze), so here's what i'm thinking of serving up for dinner in a couple of sundays before a sea monsters show.

first course: stuffed mushrooms and deviled eggs.  before chowing down on portuguese sweet bread french toast and breakfast club sandwiches at deep ellum last sunday, jessie, marcy and i DEVOURED the deviled eggs as an appetizer and i'm still salivating at the thought of them.  (that, and my mom gave me this great vintage deviled egg serving plate that i've been dying to use.) i figured finger food is always a good way to go, and stuffed mushrooms and deviled eggs are SUPER easy to make/can be prepared long before guests arrive.

main course: fettucini all'ubriaco (drunken fettucini, pictured above) and bistec porteño (argentine steak, basically.)  pasta stewing in a vat of red wine? tossed in some buttery-olive-oily-garlicy goodness? WORD.  i was thinking that the pasta itself, though seemingly scrumptious, needs to be paired with something protein-rich and hefty, and i figured marinating some strip steaks and slicing them up and serving them over the pasta would be a fresh take on it.  i would most likely use a malbec or a valpolicella for the wine in the pasta, and both are excellent with a good cut of meat, so why not? i might even mix up some chimichurri and toss it in there. we'll see.

dessert: i figure between shroomies, eggs, steak and pasta that dessert's gotta be light. i feel like chocolate would be an excellent way to round out the evening, but at the same time all the foodgasmic chocolate recipes i know would put you in a food coma after a meal like the one plotted out above.  chocolate covered strawberries, maybe? these little babies would be amazing but i feel like it would be overkill... meh.

wine:  i'd either go with the exact same red as used for the pasta or i'd refrain from serving wine altogether and maybe go with funky drinks in lieu of dessert.  i'd favor vanilla manhattans or old fashioneds, but who's to say everyone will be a fan of whiskey... also something to think about.

anyways.  yeah.  i just want to be all domestic and fill people's bellies but not TOO too much so that we can go dancing afterwards, is that so much to ask!? haha.

the night that funfetti devoured my kitchen/we devoured funfetti: Los' 23rd.

get ready for some surrrrrious cupcake porn.

SO DOMESTIC.  jessie is so vogue.

kevin felt the need to document our frosting/sprinkles process because we were kiiind of into it.

to quote marcy: "these cupcakes look like fairies pooped all over 'em."

if los was a cupcake she would look like this.

i missed the "be sexy!" memo.  ah well. kj's into it.

sadly, there aren't many photos of the birthday girl - there was a pretty massive turnout and she was bouncing around to say hi to all the party goers, but i was able to snag a quality shot of the four of us before the night ended:

and a shot of me and the newest member of the 23 club.

happy birthday los :)

what's on tabs this weekend: bishop allen tonight at the middle east, brunch at deep ellum at some point, the sea monsters, of course, and a long, bloody, drawn-out battle between me and my frosting-covered kitchen floor. I WILL CLEAN THIS APARTMENT! I WILL!

the happy list, march 23rd edition.

1.  apparently my alma mater got a mention on tonight's episode of gossip girl.  i didn't see it because i was too busy enjoying the company of los and claudia while scarfing a delectable bowl of mac n' cheez at redbones.  (it's actually "mac n' cheez" on the menu.  love.)

2.  tomorrow night, i'm going to see "i love you man" with marcy, jessie and potentially los. we're having a mexican feast at on the border beforehand.  guacamole and the glorious pairing of paul rudd and jason segel? good GOD yes.

3.  so that this list doesn't primarily consist of food, therefore negating the fact that i am a fatty-fatty-no-friends: one of my best friends from granada, nico, is celebrating his birthday on the 17th of april, and i may fly out to chicago for the festivities.  chicago is one of my all-time favorite places to be, and i'm eagerly anticipating the opportunity to score a party dress for the occasion and buy one of my favorite fellas a round of man's ruin to ring in his 23rd at probably the coolest speak easy in existence. 

4.  despite splinter making an appearance in my kitchen yesterday afternoon, my weekend was glorious and included surprise visits from dear friends heading up from providence, two great shows (the rex complex at toad and, as always, the sea monsters at precinct), ignoring the alarm clock each morning and hosting impromptu burrito/makeshift screwdriver (read: rubinoff and orange fanta cocktails) parties until 4 am.  oh, the life i lead.

5.  there are still tickets available for the cold war kids' show at the wilbur on april 2nd, so i'm trying to figure out if it'd be ok to go and then head to los' birthday shindig immediately after.  asdjfadfs SO HARD why does one of my favorite bands have to play a show on my best friend's birthdaaay?!?!

it's been a long day and tomorrow i have to get up and do grown-up things (pay bills, deposit cheques, go to the gym, straighten out dental insurance, etc...) 

my rockstar friends are, like, soooo dreamy.

photo courtesy of mcalister drive's myspace, which can be found here.

i've been kind of bouncing around like a crazy person this week, so i haven't had the chance to write up a decent review of a fabulous lil' show i attended at bill's bar last weekend.   a week ago today, jessie and i dolled ourselves up and scooted over to see the supremely talented val emmich and the adorable poppy-punky-hearts-a-fluttery musical stylings of our friends mcalister drive.

a few things about the show, the venue and crowd in general:

1) i may be biased in saying this seeing as these guys are pals of mine, but mcalister drive is a breath of fun, fresh air in a sea of brooding hipsters wailing about their ex-girlfriends while clutching their teles to their chests.  the band of buddies hails mostly from the greater boston area and they sold out three shows (three!) before their appearance at bill's last saturday, so things are only looking up for the foursome from here.  their recently recorded "i wish i knew" is up on their myspace, so give 'em a listen and getcha dancin' shoes on.

2) val emmich was f*cking fantastic.  i'm kind of a sucker for anything remotely rockabilly, and emmich, who's kinda blowing up right now and getting his tracks featured on "ugly betty" episodes and everything, definitely delivers in the rustic/twangy/sultry/steel-stringed grit department.  i haven't been able to take "hurt more later" off repeat on my iTunes since last saturday, so give that a listen, too.

3) bartenders at bill's bar: you pour shitty beer and your attitudes suck.  i'm not a fan of you, and i don't plan on buying drinks from you or tipping you if i'm back for a show in the near future.  the guy who served us was rude/borderline aggressive and the guinness i had before the show was the worst pint in HISTORY.  granted, it's not like i was there for the beer and i wouldn't recommend bill's bar anyway unless you're going to see a band in particular due to its landsdowne location, but the service and the drinks were just bad. juuuust bad. 

today, i met up with meg, my childhood bestfriend/neighbor/partner in crime, and we spent over three hours chatting it up in the vault room at bloc 11.  tonight, pato and jessie and i are making a scrumptious cuban dinner and then heading out in the night to do stupid things, most likely.

how's your weekend?

independent love, grand, and a sunday afternoon in pictures.

(photo snapped by yours truly while walking down somerville ave. this morning.)

get ready for some reeeeeeeal local love, right here.

somerville: bear my children.  i love you so very much.  today, heather came and met me at my humble abode and we walked down to union square in hopes of securing a much coveted table at the neighborhood for brunch.  we weren't surprised to see a crowd of at LEAST 15 hopeful brunchers standing outside on the sidewalk waiting for a table at union square's popular breakfast spot, and opted to keep walking in order to find a calmer meal at a less crowded joint.  

enter: the independent.  i was at the indo a couple of nights ago with the fellas, but i had no idea that they offered up a tasty brunch on sunday afternoons.  i mentioned that the drinks were great, heather was sold, and we stepped inside.

i'm just gonna put it out there: the beehive has NOTHIN' on the independent for sunday brunch, and i love the beehive. a lot.  the independent's brunch menu is incredibly affordable, eclectic, and serves up ample portions.  the drinks are exceptional:  i had the earl grey manhattan (jessie, you would've swooned), which consisted of jim beam that's been steeping in earl grey tea, honey liqueur, bitters and a splash of lemon, and heather was enamored with her classic bloody mary.  here's the two concoctions pictured below:

we both ordered the french toast, which was iggy's brioche prepped with orange zest and served up beneath a cloud of whipped cream and legit maple syrup, and we split a side of the frites and garlic aioli.  i'm kind of a french toast freak, and seriously, this was the best french toast of my liiiiiiife. just LOOK at it.

i think it goes without saying that we didn't finish everything, but we left the independent completely, utterly and head over heels in love with the establishment.  somervillains: forget sound bites, the broken yolk, and dare i say it, the neighborhood for sunday morning brunch.  the independent is where it's at if you want fancy schmancy food on the cheap and drinks that taste as good as they look.

on the way back to my apartment we passed by grand, which is my favorite neighborhood shopping stop to date.  i was just planning on look shopping while heather browsed through the witty screen-printed t-shirts and black and white photo prints, but i couldn't resist picking up these beauties before heading home:

they're shellacked lace earrings made by cursive.  i'm a sucker for bright jewelry and these babies match my mood perfectly at present.

leaving grand, i couldn't help but snap a shot of the store's outside wall on the corner of washington street.

reason for this photo:  i need to get to the ICA stat so that i can check out the shepard faerey supply and demand exhibit.  i know, i know, faerey's  now iconic billboard/street propaganda will be on display in town until halfway through august, but i'm totally that cool kid who waits until the last minute to see shows and collections and frequently forget about them until they've long since departed (the ansel adams photo exhibit at the mfa in 2005 being a perfect example of that. le sad.)  the ICA is free on thursdays and the museum is open 'til 9.  who's down?

tonight: dinner in allston rock city with this little one and then off to precinct for my weekly dose of sea monsters and pints of allagash. 

things that make me smile like this:

(this would be jessie and i ringing in the new year. do excuse her devil eye/my vivid slash of guns n' roses/velvet revolver impression.)

+ impromptu hookah parties in my apartment with fantastic, lovely people and fantastic, lovely conversation.  extra points for rose, jasmine and pomegranate flavored shisha.

+ sunny days after snow days: yeah, it sucks that it's cold and yeah, it sucks that i need to leap over a mound of snow half my size in order to get into and out of my apartment every day, but you can't deny that today wasn't a beautiful one in suffolk county.

+ celebrating los' return to the dark side (read: she gave up being a vegetarian) with a massive feast at redbones.  steak tips and mac n' cheese? yes yes and good god yes.

+ FINALLY FINDING A COPY OF RUSSIAN VOGUE.  i have a collection of vogues from around the world and want a copy of vogue in every language/region it's in print. i've been looking for the russian edition for ages and i can't stomach spending the $300+ for a yearly, imported subscription to it.  there are 19 editions of the magazine released across the globe, and the international editions i've got so far hail from the us, uk, italy, australia, spain, portugal, brazil, germany, greece, japan and now russia.  vogues left to obtain: india, mexico, china, canada, switzerland, korea, taiwan and france.  (france and canada i can totally pick up at the borders in downtown crossing.  india and korea?  not so much.)

+ "watchmen" is playing at the somerville theatre on its opening night (which is next thursday, for those of you who have been living underneath a massive, massive rock.)  i'm buying a whole chunk o' tickets tomorrow and making an event of it next week with some wonderful people.  check back for a review later (of the movie, not the people.  oh, i'm so witty, yuck yuck.  facepalm.) 

+ the novelty of the gigantic map of south america currently shackin' up in my living room hasn't worn off yet.  i don't know if it ever well.  le sigh.

+ i finally picked up a copy of david foster wallace's infinite jest and i can't wait to start reading it.   i plan on spending a hefty chunk of my day tomorrow downing lattes at bloc 11 and picking few the first hundred pages or so of this whopper.  (the book is a behemoth at 981 pages.) 

the long and short of it: today was a great tuesday.  how was yours?

zaftigs, you are most deeefinitely my bashert.

see this stacked, meaty, cheesy, saucy monstrosity of a sandwich?

that, dear readers, is the new yorker sandwich served up in all its pastrami and corned-beefy goodness at zaftig's.  i'm ashamed to say that i'm totally a "my side of the river" kind of girl (meaning i very rarely make a concerted effort to cross the charles river to get to allston, brookline or jamaica plain unless there's something really fantastic in it for me), and therefore have refrained from experiencing this cozy jewish deli on harvard street in brookline until this evening.  after roughly fifteen inches of snow fell on boston, a few of us drove over to larz anderson park in brookline to go SLEDDING, which seemed like a fantastic idea... until i realized an hour into it that my boots were hardly waterproof and that i was in need of hot tea and comfort food to combat the coldness.  enter: zaftig's.  after chucking our socks in the dryer for a bit and digging out the car from a snowbank on comm ave, we needed something hearty and zaftig's was riiiight down the street, so it was a no brainer.  

zaftig's serves up breakfast all day, diviiiiine knishes and latkes, incredible looking desserts and absurdly decadent sandwiches, as is evident by the MONSTER that i wound up with at dinner tonight pictured above.  (other selections ordered at the table: a delicious, classic reuben, one of the freshest garden salads we had ever seen and a thanksgiving-style turkey/mashed potatoes/stuffing open-faced sandwich that kind of made me want to bury my face in it.) the chicken noodle matzoh ball soup is delicious as well, and every single item on the menu was enough to get us salivating before we even ordered.

long story short: though my sandwich above was, in fact, the most intimidating meal i've had in a looong long time, zaftig's could not have been a more perfect choice for a meal at the end of a bitter, blizzarding, blustery day.  it's easily accessible by way of public transportation and literally steps away from the coolidge corner stop on the c line.  though lines out the door may prove to be a nuisance on weekends, but brunch at zaftig's seems well worth the wait on a sunny saturday morning.  if anyone happens to try their challah french toast or the infamous breakfast sandwiches before me, drop me a line and let me know how foodgasmic your experience was!